Re: 180 degrees (360 degrees actually)
From: James Kacki (jimkackimts.net)
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:14:33 -0700 (PDT)
A very interesting description, Becky. It seems as if, for what they were intended to do, they serve a very useful purpose and I have no doubt that for the city dwelling gardners that use them, it is a welcome break to breath fresh air and get in contact with the soil. Your description is a bit of a reality check for me, living in Canada. I come from England originally, but there is so much open land here that it's easy to forget that in much denser, more populated parts of the world 'getting away from it all', 'back to the earth' means occupying a small triangle of land in the radiating garden plots that we've been looking at. My only point in my last posting was that it did not seem to be an appropriate model for co-housing site plans. Although you apartment-block co-housers may have a different perspective?
James

Becky Weaver wrote:
I reviewed the websites, and want to point out that Broendby haveby afd. 3 (pictured in the links) is 
not a housing development, but a "colony garden" development. Colony gardens are a Danish 
tradition begun in the late 1800's, little plots of land sold to (predominantly urban) workers as 
places where they could grow a garden & spend some time outdoors in a green environment. I think 
the English term is "allotment."
I think the purpose of the central parking is to minimize the amount of pavement. You may notice that there isn't nearly enough parking - that's because many kolonihaven gardeners probably do not own cars. The kolonihavens I saw had no adjacent parking or auto access whatsoever. Owners get to their gardens by bus or bicycle. Frequently they build "garden sheds" on their property that morph into little weekend getaway houses, though that was not the original intention of the allotments - they were created so city dwellers could get some fresh air & homegrown vegetables. These little houses - kolonihavenshuser - are often very creatively and caringly constructed by their owners, and can be extremely cute but definitely not for year-round living in a Northern European climate. At least, that's how they were in 1988, the last time I was in Denmark and personally saw any. As far as the gardens being "jammed up against each other," these circular gardens, with the houses at the end facing lawn or field, create much more private space for the gardeners than any of the kolonihavens I saw outside Copenhagen. The green "spokes" are thick, neatly clipped hedges that can easily grow six to nine feet high. Land is scare in Denmark, and remember these are garden allotments for apartment dwellers. The designs probably provide far more privacy and fresh air than their owners (or at least renters) have ever gotten before. Perhaps the folks who sign up for them have enough social contact already in their city-neighborhood lives, and prefer to garden in as close to bucolic solitude as they can get. While cohousing originated in Denmark, it's not the only social movement that ever took place there. "Kolonihaven"s meet a very different need, and were created during a very different time in history, probably when rather than wishing they had more connection to the neighbors, people wished they could get away from everybody once in a while. :-) Becky Weaver
  Central Austin Cohousing/Kaleidoscope Village
  Austin, TX
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